Page:In a Steamer Chair and Other Stories.djvu/249

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HOW THE CAPTAIN GOT HIS STEAMER OUT.




On his own perticular well-wrought row,
      That he's straddled for ages—
      Learnt its lay and its gages—
His style may seem queer, but permit him to know.
The likeliest, sprightliest, manner to hoe.


"There is nothing more certain than that some day we will have to record a terrible disaster directly traceable to ocean racing.

"The vivid account which one of our reporters gives in another column of how the captain of the Arrowic went blundering across the bar yesterday in one of the densest fogs of the season is very interesting reading. Of course the account does not pretend to be anything more than imaginary, for, until the Arrowic reaches Queenstown, if she ever does under her present captain, no one can tell how much of luck was mixed with the recklessness which took this steamer out into the Atlantic in the midst of the thickest fog we have had this year.

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